“Just because we’re up 3-0 doesn’t mean we’re not playing a very good basketball team,” he said during his pre-game meeting with reporters.

It will be interesting to see what happens if the Suns fall in another double-digit hole out of the gate, as they did in Game 3. Suns fans are already beginning to question their team. The team, meanwhile, is beginning to question its coach.

Speculation about Mike D’Antoni’s job has hit a fever pitch in the local media here in Arizona in recent days. D’Antoni received a vote of confidence — albeit an irrelevant one — from Popovich.

“If things don’t happen as instantly as some people want, there’s got to be a goat, there’s got to be a hero,” Popovich said. “Both those notions are a bit immature. When one looks at any coach’s body of work, you can tell someone like Mike knows what’s going on. The system works, and what one has to remember is that the series isn’t over.”

Popovich says he can relate to the heat that D’Antoni is feeling.

“Even years where we’ve won championships, we’ve lost the first game of the first round, and all of a sudden I’m an idiot,” Popovich said. “So I’ve heard of it before.”